|
THOUGHTS ON THE SCHOOL TRAGEDY
Date: April 24, 1999
To: The Charleston Post and Courier
I doubt that many people remember the stories coming out of North Carolina
concerning the death of my father, Harry Bell of Stanfield, N.C., back in 1987
at the hands of a shotgun-toting 14-year-old. The kid's name was David. He was
co-captain of his football team, loved by all the girls, and a very good
student.
Unfortunately, the popularity went to his head. He started lying to his parents
about spending the night out with buddies camping when in reality, he was out
partying with older kids, involved in promiscuous sex, drinking and toying with
the occult.
Having grown up in a family with strong Christian principles, David found
himself growing further and further apart from his family. It all came to a
head in October 1987, when he was ordered to go to the principal's office.
Instead, David decided to
run away, and an hour later killed our father who had unexpectedly decided to
take the day off from his regular job in order to get some work done on our
small farm.
I tell your readers all of this because we were raised right, and I know my
father's death was not caused by a gun. His death at the hands of my brother
was due to the fact that David made the wrong choices in life. He could have
chosen to take God's gifts to him and become successful like my middle brother
and myself.
He could have done a lot of things differently and prevented the unspeakable
suffering our family has had to endure, but he chose a selfish and vain path,
which always leads one to self-destruction. As a past president of the National
Rifle Association in South Carolina who has stepped down in order to serve as
Pat Buchanan's events coordinator in the state and editor in chief of the S.C. Christian
Coalition newsletter, let me say to all of your readers what should be said
repeatedly:
It's not the guns that
kill. It's the people who pull the trigger that kill. The two members of the
"Trenchcoat Mafia" in Columbine High School in Colorado made the same choice my brother did 12
years ago when he took my best friend and Dad away from me.
It's time to stop placing the blame on guns and gun manufacturers, and start
placing the blame where it belongs: on individuals who excommunicate themselves
from our creator, and run like fools to that wicked Angel of Light who seeks to
destroy us.
Truly, it is this aspect of the story that is heartbreaking to all of us who
work with youth in our churches and community.
Hopelessness seems to permeate the lives of so many teen-agers today. These
"Trenchcoat Mafia" killers are just the latest example of why we all must do a better job of
getting out of our comfort zones to show God's
love to our fellow man.
Thankfully, my brother met someone who was willing to love the unloveable. That
person's name is Jesus Christ, and thanks to him, my brother's new life has
begun. Eligible for parole this year he received a life sentence for
second-degree murder, David plans to spend the rest of his life preaching the
truth of John 3:16.
May God bless our great nation and comfort those mourning in Colorado.
Scott Bell
Mount Pleasant, South Carolina
| 
